Sunday, July 06, 2014

Welcome to July! Happy Canada Day and Happy Independence Day to our respective Canadian and American readers. I must hang my head in shame as I completely forgot it was Canada Day on Tuesday. It's almost a sackable offense! I was however, distracted as I was eating cake surrounded by cats in London's very first cat cafe on the day. I was a tiny bit disappointed as cats being cats they were too busy ignoring the guests who had made their reservation back in March. Ho hum. At least I did have a good week reading. So what did I read?

If you read my WIR last week you would have discovered I had started The Digital Wolf by Jon Rosenberg which is the second in the Hidden Academy series. The book starts a few months after the harrowing events of book 1 where David Ash, Summoner and member of the Hidden Academy almost dies protecting his friends and colleagues. While he is out on a run David almost gets munched by an enormous wolf and not just any wolf but Fenris, son of Loki who has been entrapped for centuries. David just barely escapes and embarks on a mission to save all of humanity from a rogue digital wolf being controlled by one pissed off ice giant. David has a lot more on his plate with his boss in the hospital, Oberon - Lord of Fairy is missing and a murderous computer program that needs David's help to find its missing part. David needs all the help he can get to save his friends and the rest of world.

I am enjoying this series so far but will have to admit that I didn't think The Digital Wolf wasn't as amusing as The Unicorn Crisis. There were a few one lines that had me tittering and all delivered by David's elf friend Llewellyn. I thought I would share with you one of the especially funny lines when David asks the gadget and TV addicted elf for help to fight the ice giant.

So what? you want me to go in there and call her names? What do you think will do the trick? Mother of Grief, Origin of Ruin? Frosty the fat-arsed Snowbitch?

Rosenberg has created a fantasy and mythology mash-up in this novel where Titania, the Queen of Fairy and the Norse Gods - Thor and Odin are deeply entwined together. He also ventures to give these characters a modern twist by having them manipulate technology for their nefarious plans. There is a lot going on in this novel and with the overlap the gods of both Fairy and Norse mythology it did get a bit too 'busy'. Even still it was an enjoyable read with lots happening to ensure you pay attention throughout.

I then tried to read Breath of Air by Katie Jennings. This is young adult fantasy but geared to a much younger reader. I quite like young adult and youth fiction but not so the case for book. It starts out with the poor little orphan Annie/Capri who doesn't know where her powers come from until one day a handsome prince rescues her and takes her a beautiful land where her handsome father greats her with open arms and dresses her in the most beautiful clothes. It had so many stereotypes that I couldn't justify spending any more time reading it so I am afraid I gave up.

I felt the need to finish something quickly and remembered that Thea Harrison had released a novella - Pia Saves the Day which is part of the Elder Races series. Well it was a quick read but I didn't really enjoy it. I think an author can like their characters a little too much and stop thinking rationally about them. I found this novella to be quite indulgent with not a lot of substance. I know this is a romance series but I found the 'romance' to be a bit denigrating to woman. The plot involves Dragos losing his memory and turns on Pia, almost using her unicorn horn to pick his teeth after munching her down. Fair enough that she tries to help him remember who he was and their love for each other but the gratuitous sex scenes when he still doesn't remember who Pia is/was to him makes her sound a bit too easy. At least in book 1 she had known him for a few days and he had saved her life a few times before the 'steamy' starts.

I am almost finished Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron and I will tell you what I thought next week. Until then Happy Reading!

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